my thrift store jacket

Posted on by December 2, 2016

I don’t have a Harris Tweed jacket anymore.

My wife gave me one before we were married.

She got it at a thrift store that her family ran.

Man.

I want one again.

But….you don’t see any of these jackets in thrift stores now.

I know.

I’ve looked.

I don’t know if a Harris Tweed sport jacket is in style or not….or whether I do anything anymore that makes sense to wear a jacket like that for.

Maybe I don’t really need something like that….but….I want it.

It’s beautiful and cool.

And….for some reason….impossible to find now.

I see all sorts of cheesy, tweedy jackets on the thrift store racks….but I run my fingers across them and look at the limited pallet of colors woven into the fabric…and know that they are something different from what I remember having.

When I open the jackets to check for the Harris Tweed label, I know that my hunch was right.

When something is that good, it’s hard to be fooled by a jacket that hopes to look “sort of” like it.

I don’t really “need” one of these jackets.

But….what kind of life would any of us live if we were only able to have the best and most beautiful of anything that was made in this world?

Especially if it comes from a thrift store?

Knowing that there’s an island full of people making the cloth these jackets are made of makes finding one again seem like even more of a “treasure” than it did before I saw this film.

Harris Tweed.

That is one cool jacket.

 

keep running

Posted on by December 1, 2016

To do something like this, you need a really compelling reason.

I thank God that I don’t have a compelling reason to do something like this.

This video is about Joe McConaughy’s run on the PCT to honor his young cousin, Colin McConaughy, who died of pediatric brain cancer when he was two years old.

Again…I thank God that I don’t have any compelling reasons like that.

The Pacific Crest Trail is 2650 miles long…and Joe ran it to raise money for pediatric brain tumor research.

The video is half an hour long….so unless you’re really into seeing what a ultradistance run is all about, it might be a little long to sit and watch.

Watch the beginning, though….it will make you glad for what you have.

A “tribute” is a good thing.

I hope I can pay tribute to the people I love every day of our lives.

That would be a good thing to figure out how to do.

train an eagle

Posted on by November 30, 2016

This film by Cale Glendening is about much more than just Mongolian eagle hunting.

It’s about family….and tradition…and feeling the need to actively work at preserving something unique and good.

We had a conversation about travelling last night….and I think that it was decided that I don’t really like to travel.

That’s not really true, though.

I love to travel.

What freaks me out some is “responsibility”…..whatever that word means.

Put me in an unfamiliar situation where the risk and responsibility factor rises, and I get….what’s a good word?

“Watchful”.

Watchful with a little too much quiet intensity.

It’s unpleasant, I’m sure.

When the watchful moves into the squealing, overly demonstrative paranoia and negativity category, it must be unbearable.

Of course, that never happens.

Luckily, for the people around me, that never happens.

This guy trains eagles to hunt.

He stopped learning how to do that when he took over a lot of the herding needs of the tribe at 6.

Now he’s learning the skills to pay tribute to his father….and to tradition.

That’s some crazy stuff, that….eagle hunting!

Who knew you could train an eagle to hunt for you?

(I did, actually. I know about falconry. It’s pretty amazing…)

There’s so much going on around us while we’re doing things.

I am teaching my children by example.

They know that when they hear me cussing out in the driveway when I’m working on my car, at some point I’ll probably come into the house greasy….and, depending on how much cussing I was doing, possibly bloody.

Nah….that’s too theatrical.

Probably just greasy.

Anyway….I freak out about responsibility.

And…I freak out about freaking out about responsibility.

That’s a lot of freaking out.

I have to be pretty quiet about it, too.

I can’t yell “fire” in a crowded theater.

My molecules have to vibrate wildly inside a placid static frame.

I love to travel….and I would love to wear a furry hat and ride with an eagle on my shoulder.

It wouldn’t get any cooler than that.

I need to stop feeling freaked out about stuff to even start being cool, though.

That’s a big responsibility.

 

thinking about a new way…

Posted on by November 28, 2016

Here’s a new design for a wind turbine that works in low-level winds….and that also slows itself down when the wind gets too heavy…..built by a company in Iceland call Icewind.

Man.

I love to see people trying to figure all this stuff out.

This particular turbine seems to have a fairly small footprint, too.

Would a turbine like this be enough to power the energy needs of a typical household?

Will we see these as often as the small satellite dishes on most of the homes today?

It would be pretty cool if we did at some point.

The guy that figures out how to produce a really efficient battery is going to be an instant kazillionaire.

A KAZILLIONAIRE!!

Mark my words….a kazillionaire.

Maybe something like this turbine could fill up the good battery with clean energy?

Man.

Cool.

 

See the World….episode 5

Posted on by November 27, 2016

Sunday again….and time for another episode of Iohan Gueorguiev‘s video chronicle of his epic bike trip called “See the World”.

This week it’s the 5th episode and it takes place during a second chance at riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.

This attempt is during warmer weather and it looks like the riding is easier when the ground isn’t covered with snow.

There’s lots of Montana footage in this video.

He also rides good sections of the Continental Divide Trail.

I mentioned yesterday that we’d gone to see the new Disney movie “Moana”.

The movie is about Moana, a young island girl, going to adventure “over the reef” to save her people.

The other islanders never venture out over the reef…because they’re afraid of what is out beyond their own small world.

There’s a lot in some of these Disney movie for a young mind…or an old mind….to soak in.

Adventure can be pretty good.

My adventure right now is figuring out how to finish fixing the shock absorbers on the Mail Jeep.

That would make a crummy YouTube video.

It’s so boring to worry about what a machine will do when it’s rattling apart.

It’s boring until….it rattles apart.

Then….the wrong kind of adventure starts….the kind you don’t want to have.

It’s all an adventure, though, even if it’s just trying to figure out how to keep the wheels turning while it feels like you’re jogging in place.

Iohan Gueorguiev‘s videos are pretty great.

If you can’t wait for another Sunday to roll around, you can find them on YouTube here….

There is a big world out there.

One of these days, after I’ve made my coffee, built a fire in the woodstove, and fixed my shocks…I might figure out how to get us some of that adventure….

(What’s that old Chinese proverb about praying for “exciting times”? I better watch what I say and just stay the course. It’s easier to stay on “the island”.)

 

trip to the movies

Posted on by November 26, 2016

We went to see Moana this afternoon to celebrate Sparrow’s 3rd birthday.

What a bunch of fun to go to an actual full price theater (did you know that a matinee is 8.50 now?).

What a treat to see a movie with the little guys…..and our big guys.

We went out for pizza afterwards…..good times.

That’s easy to do….but rare enough that we are a long ways from being jaded about the whole experience.

Doing nice things for ourselves is always a treat

And….Moana is pretty great.

It made me feel like I wanted to get out and get some Maori tattoos.

Just…not on my face.

Nothing on the face, please.

when 3/8″ is too big….stop following the bad instructions

Posted on by November 25, 2016

The instructions said to use a 3/8″ bolt…..1 1/2″ long….or, maybe a 5/16″ bolt of the same length.

These instructions say to use a 1/4″ inch bolt…. 1 and a half inches long.

Some say to use a shorter bolt.

I’m up with that.

When you use the thick bolt, and wire it up so you can pull it through the hole, the bolt doesn’t have enough room to make the turn to slide down through the mount so that you can put the shock absorbers back on the Jeep.

Of course, you discover this after you’ve gotten all set up to finish the job with the larger bolts….and you’re half an hour away from the hardware store….and you’ve got to get ready for a birthday party in the morning.

This is all recoverable….but sometimes you really do need to just stop following the bad instructions and figure out a way to get the job done.

Maybe shorter and skinnier is the way to go this time?

I really just don’t want to get under the car and have the dust rain down on my head anymore…..and it will be nice for the ride to be a little more gentle than it is without any shock absorbers.

That doesn’t work to roll hard in a mean-spirited automobile.

I need to roll easy sometimes.

 

not alone in your discomfort

Posted on by November 23, 2016

One of the beautiful things about YouTube is that it supports the knowledge that, when something bad happens or you do something that you think is monumentally stupid, you can find that you’re not alone in your discomfort.

Replacing shocks is an easy thing.

All you do is take off 3 bolts/nuts per side, pull the old shock out, and then replace the bad shock with a good new one, and put the bolts/nuts back on and torque to spec….easy.

That’s the easy way.

What usually ends up happening is that the rusted bolts twist off under gentle pressure and you’re left looking at the mess and wondering how you’re going to fix it all.

I’m driving the Jeep with one rear shock now because I had to remove the left side shock after breaking one of the bolts up top the other night.

This is how you get around that problem….you just knock it all out and replace the rusted bolts with some new bolts.

I could take it to a mechanic, but they charge 80 dollars to put on the rear shocks, and I wouldn’t have the experience of figuring out how to fix something that seemed like a big problem.

I also wouldn’t get dirty or greasy, I’d be warm, and I would get to know the comfort that people feel when they delegate something that they are uncomfortable doing.

No….most people never learn how hard some things are.

Most people decide what they want to do….and what they don’t want to do….or what they think that they can do….and never move outside of that comfort zone.

They never learn what they can do….because they don’t want to learn what they can do.

Anyway….who would want to learn any of this stuff if you could just “pay the man” to make all your problems go away?

I’m learning….and learning is sometimes hard.

There is a lot of satisfaction in figuring some of this stuff out.

Awwww, who am I kidding?

I’m really just too cheap to pay somebody eighty dollars to do something that I could do in my driveway.

I’m just too cheap.

Thank goodness for these YouTube videos…..showing the way….and teaching me that I’m not the only one who is out there figuring out how to get the job done.